Furlough of FTA staff would end under agreement reached by U.S. Senate leaders

Moments ago, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced an agreement that would permit the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), among other federal agencies, to reopen and therefore end the furlough of thousands of federal employees.

To date, the USDOT has furloughed over 95% of all Federal Transit Administration (FTA) employees and furloughed a number of other federal transportation staffers.

According to the Senate leaders, the agreement would provide funding to keep the federal government operating through January 15, 2014 and raise the national debt ceiling through February 7, 2014.

In addition, the agreement reached by Senators Reid and McConnell would involve the initiation of negotiations by members of the House and Senate on a tax and spending reform plan that would be concluded by December 13, 2013.

The agreement reached in the Senate is likely to be considered by the House later today. Should the USDOT furloughs end as a result of this tentative deal, we look forward to resuming our work with FTA employees on a number of projects our agency has pending at the FTA, including, but not limited to, our New Starts projects.

House Majority Leader Rep. John Boehner has indicated that the House will approve the agreement in the Senate, according to the New York Times.